Forsage Games Writes About Themselves and Their Games

 This is, as they, say straight from the horse's mouth:

In my childhood and youth, I did not play any board games, which at that time (1970-1990) were almost non-existent in my country (Yugoslavia). I entered the world of boardgaming in a completely different way. My parents were history professors, so I became interested in that field as well. I often examined historical atlases with my father, where the maps showed various phases of battles. I was fascinated by those blue and red arrows that showed the advances of individual armies, the closing of rings, breakthroughs through defense lines and the like... I was especially impressed by the Battle of Britain and that large table in Fighter Command where the girls moved markers representing individual British and German squadrons.

It was that table with markers that was my direct inspiration for the first game I came up with (1992). In the initial concept it was a pure air battle between two formations of fighter planes. In the next few years, the game became an air-naval military exercise for up to 6 players with aircraft carriers in the main role. At that time, there were no real publishers of board games in Serbia. Only in 1996, through a friend, I managed to find a company, Grafopapir (an importer and distributor of school and office materials), which wanted to publish the game. The game was given the commercial name 'Saratoga' and was accompanied by two smaller games (Saratoga on BGG). According to still unconfirmed data, it is the first original game released in Serbia by a local author. It is important to note that the Triangle system was designed for that game, which I later applied in my other war games.

The game was not a great commercial success, because it was too complex for the domestic market and it remained largely unrecognized. This did not discourage me, so I continued to design complex war games, but also simple family games. In the next few years, about 30 of my games were published for several other publishers in Serbia (Beoplast, Ponte Rosso, Brimaco).

I have also published several dozen board games on my own. Although more complex war games were produced (such as Harriers in Action or Naval Battle), the best selling ones were very simple games for the youngest audiences. Such a situation did not suit me as an author.

When my son Dragan joined me in game design, we improved our games significantly. To be able to market our original ideas, we realized that we had to try reaching board game audiences outside of Serbia. We contacted several dozen world publishers of board games, but none were open to fresh ideas that do not fit their existing templates.

Our dream gradually came true when we found out about Kickstarter, an opportunity to present our games directly to players around the world. We've achieved great success in our second Kickstarter project, with over 2000 backers (Tank Chess), despite not investing any funds in advertising. So far we had 10 campaigns on Kickstarter, some of which became real hits: Age of Dogfights WWI and WWII. Many reviews said that they are among the best aerial combat games.

After each campaign, we invested the funds in our own production capacities. Our workshop specializes in the production of small series of games, but in collaboration with large printing houses we are able to finalize large series of very demanding games. In addition to producing our own games, we have been successfully producing games for other authors and publishers from Serbia, the region and Europe for several years. During the production and implementation of some of our Kickstarter projects there were some ongoing problems and delays, but we always delivered rewards to all backers, often with significantly more content than what was presented during the campaign. We are always open to suggestions and feedback from gamers all around the world, which helps improve our games significantly.

As authors, we already have plans for several next projects. In addition to war-themed games, other games are also in plan, which we believe will gain great popularity as well.

P.S. the pre-launch page for Urban Battle is now activated (the campaign should start in about a week):

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1732812836/urban-battle

Here are some reviews I have done about their earlier games:

Age of Dogfights: WWI by Forsage Games - A Wargamers Needful Things

Tank Chess by Forsage Games - A Wargamers Needful Things

 Rebel Fury

Battles of the American Civil War

by

GMT Games

Designer: Mark Herman

 As a wargamer for a long time, I was not a big fan of the western battles of the American Civil War for some unknown reason. To be honest, there were some battles like Gettysburg in the Eastern Theater that never really interested me in playing for many years. However, three battles have always caught my attention. They are Antietam, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. While there have been a good number of games about Antietam, the other two have always, in my eyes, gotten the short shrift as far as wargaming. The Wilderness and Spotsylvania have always interested me as far as reading about them and gaming them. I reread 'If it takes all Summer' by William D. Matter and Gordon C. Rhea's 'The Battle of the Wilderness' pretty much on a yearly basis. So, when I saw that Mark Herman, one of my favorite designers, was going to do a series of battles based on his Gettysburg game system that appeared in C3i Magazine #32 (Published by the late and very lamented Rodger B. MacGowan) I was only somewhat enthused. Then I saw that Volume I was going to contain not just the Battle of the Wilderness but also have Spotsylvania and I became very interested. I was more than happy to review a game that included those battles even though the complexity of the game/s is on the low side. More on this later. let's dive right in and see what you get with the box and how the game plays.

  This is what GMT Games says about it:

"Rebel Fury, Volume I of the Civil War Heritage series, uses the low-complexity Gettysburg system featured in C3i Magazine #32. The Battles featured are Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg (solitaire).

This design features a new system on Civil War combat akin to the old SPI Blue and Gray Quads. Each game in Rebel Fury is quick-set-up, quick-playing, and deeply interactive. The density of counters in each scenario is low, allowing you to see and experience the big picture of the battle.

Rebel Fury places you, the player, in the role of the Army Commander (Lee, Burnside, Hooker, Bragg, Rosecrans, Grant). You maneuver your army to find the enemy’s flanks, concentrate your forces for an attack, and determine where to commit your artillery assets.

Units are portrayed at the Infantry/Cavalry division level. The Civil War Heritage series game system features a new Zone of Influence/Zone of Control mechanic that controls unit formation (March/Battle) based on their proximity to your opponent. As your units close with the enemy, your forces naturally break into battle formation, where they then maneuver the last distance to engage. Unlike most hex and counter wargames, this system allows you total freedom to move units in any order multiple times, unleashing the full range of historical tactics in a simple and clean format.

Combat features a differential combat system with few but significant factors that capture the key features of Civil War division level combat. Units are rated for quality, artillery support, supporting units, and terrain. The game features artillery duels with the occasional Exploding Caisson result. The Civil War Heritage series combat system accurately depicts the ability of units to launch multiple waves of attacks on the same position, capturing the back-and-forth nature of many famous combat duels.

Each battle features special units and situations, such as Wilder’s Brigade of mounted infantry (Chickamauga) plus other famous units and personages. If you are looking for a competitive, quick-playing Civil War battle game, Rebel Fury may be the game you have been looking to fit into your busy schedule. The short playing time (1 hour or less) entices you to play multiple battles in the same sitting."

 This is what comes with the game:

Three 22” x 34” Single-sided Map Sheets

Two 130-counter Sheets

One Rulebook

One Playbook

Two Player Aid Cards

Two Displays

Two 10-sided Dice

One 6-sided Custom Die

One 2" Box

The complexity rating is a 3

The solitaire rating is a 5

The battles that actually come with Volume I are these:

Fredericksburg

Chancellorsville

Chickamauga

Chattanooga

The Wilderness

Spotsylvania

 As usual we will start with my take on the game's maps. There are three of them, and as mentioned, they are single-sided. The maps are all very well done. They show most, if not all, of the different landmarks that were parts of all of the battles. Each hex has its own terrain that is easily identifiable. I was never a fan of the older game maps that you had to guess what terrain your counters were in. One odd thing about two of the maps is that the Chickamauga/Chattanooga map shows how rough and forested the terrain was compared to the Battle of the Wilderness (to be fair, the woods in the Wilderness were newer growth compared to an old forest). The maps are certainly up to snuff. The Rule of Play booklet is on the shorter side of rulebooks at only 24 pages. The type size is more than adequate for older grognard eyes. It is in full color and has many examples of play for the gamer to more easily understand the game's rules. It comes with the now almost obligatory index, another step forward in gaming. The Playbook comes next and is similar in its appearance and type, etc. Oddly, it is also 24 pages in length. It contains the scenario setups, victory conditions, etc. Almost at the end of the Playbook there are Designer Notes which explains the hows and whys of the different game concepts. The last part of the Playbook is a piece by Mr. Herman in tribute to Rick Barber, which is another great loss to the wargaming community. In it he explains that Mr. Barber had done two of the maps. However, on the box the counter and map credits actually go to a Mr. Charlie Kibler. I am assuming that maybe the aforementioned maps from Mr. Barber were rough drafts or something like that.

 The game comes with two hard stock Player Aids which are two-sided and have all of the charts and tables on one side with the terrain chart on the obverse. Next comes two more hard stock pieces. The first is the 'Union Off-Map Display' for the Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville map. The second has the remaining moves/attacks chart and the turn record tracks for all six of the battles included. There are two countersheets included with the game. The majority of the counters are 5/8" in size with a few detachments, pontoon bridge, etc., 1/2" sized.  They are large enough to read all of the pertinent information except for the very small letter in the upper left-hand corner that denotes what battle the counter is from. I suggest that you use the included bags and mark them for ease of use. Two things struck me when I looked at them. The first was the very few leader counters that come with the game. The second, was the small amount of actual troop counters in each battle. For example, there are only 21 troop counters for the Confederate side in the Battle of Spotsylvania and only one leader counter. This game will definitely not be one where you will have to worry about counter clutter or stacks.

 You also get the small bags and dice needed for your Civil War gaming. The components taken as a whole represent the usual GMT Games attention to detail. 

 I was really not expecting to become enamored of this game or the series. True, it had two of the battles that I most enjoy gaming and reading about, but it had some negatives in my mind. It was just too simple and did not seem to have enough counters to portray the immensity of those same battles. The inclusion of a solitaire version of the Battle of Fredericksburg was certainly a plus. However, it was only setup to play the Union as solitaire (which does make sense seeing how the battle historically happened). How would the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania playout and the attack of the Confederate 1st Corps on the second day of the Wilderness. My fears and snootiness about the game were both wrong and totally uncalled for. Yes Virginia, there is a time and a place for massive maps and tons of counters with a rulebook to match and old phone book. There is also room in our hobby for a game that would take only an hour or so to play and not take up the dining room table. The shortness allows two players to try different strategies all in just one gaming session and does not take up the dining room table, much to the wife's chagrin. 

 I usually do not repeat what the game company or designer writes but, in this instance, I think it is needed:

"This design features a new system on Civil War combat akin to the old SPI Blue and Gray Quads. Each game in Rebel Fury is quick-set-up, quick-playing, and deeply interactive. The density of counters in each scenario is low, allowing you to see and experience the big picture of the battle."

 In this the designer has succeeded, in my eye, to a tee. It is not a beer and pretzels game. The game is much deeper to me than the old quad games were. The game also shows maneuvering to battle in the American Civil War, for want of a better term, correctly. Fighting until exhaustion and each side taking a pounding was the name of the game in most Civil War battles. This game reflects it in its combat rules. Apparently, some people do not like the changes in combat from the original Gettysburg game in the series. Well, there isn't much to say on that score. That is just a case of "You say potato" etc. The game is enjoyable and easy to learn. On some small level my mind still does understand that.

 The first thing you will notice about the counters is that there are no strength points! I know - complete and absolute heresy! Even blocks in wargames have strength points you mutter to yourself. Once again, this is not your grandfather's wargame. The next interesting part of the game is that the rulebook states four key concepts at its beginning. The first is that the game does have normal Zones of Control, but it also has a Zone of influence going out another hex larger than the ZOC. The second one is that the game's movement points are nothing like your regular hex and counter game. The larger division counters have one side as a battle formation and the other as maneuver formation. It does, however, have extended road march. There are numerous changes to both movement and attack/defense compared to earlier hex and counter games. The separate changes would be too long to list. The most important part of this review is the next two sentences. Please pay attention to them. Yes, the game is different, and it might take some time to get used to the different rules. However, it WORKS, as both a game and a study in Civil War army management. 

 I also have to state for the record that Mr. Herman did not include a bibliography of every book he has read about the American Civil War since age eight or ten. Therefore, you will not be able to dig through them, or his brain, to find out where exactly he came up with the new insights and rules for the game. This might be a bit harsh, but understand I say this with love. If your idea of a good time is to disparage and refute everything a designer has done with a wargame that he designed, please get another hobby. Or better yet, you could design your own game or change the rules of this one to your own ideas. Each wargame is a child of each designer's mind. Just because they have a different take on something does not mean you are right, and he is wrong or vice versa. I have removed myself from my soapbox at Speakers Corner.

 The game to me is quick and represents Civil War battles in a somewhat new light. It does not play like a game to me. It plays like a designer's take on Civil War realities.

 Thank you very much to GMT Games for allowing me to take Rebel Fury for a spin. I was not expecting to become a fan but here we are. Once again, my personal foibles have been stripped bare for me to see.  

 For those who are interested the Great Battles of the American Civil War is going to be headed to the Battle of the Wilderness courtesy of GMT Games. Here is the P500 link:

GMT Games - Stepping Into Hell

For those who love ancients here is the link to the upcoming Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World designed byMorgane Gouyon-Rety: 

GMT Games - Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World

 

Robert Peterson

Rebel Fury: Battles of the American Civil War

GMT Games

 Campaign Series Vietnam Tutorial Walkthrough

by

Joe Beard

 This is a series of videos that Joe Beard did for this excellent series.

Here is the link:

Campaign Series Vietnam Tutorial Walkthrough: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLujeLHPclRBNySMPROfnfgcums5QSknPN

 CRETE

FROM

STRATEGEMATA

This is the third game that I've reviewed in the Great Battles of Small Units series from Strategemata and each one has built on and improved on its predecessor.  Crete is no exception to this steady progress onward and upward.  Like its immediate predecessor, Carentan, the box art has maintained the combination of strong, aggressive images and colours.  

In this new game, though the actions themselves remain very playable because of the small number of units involved in each battle, the scope is much greater.  For, as the game's title readily tells us and the picture heralds, we are pitched into the famous German parachute invasion of Crete.  Operation Mercury may not have spawned the volume of games that the Normandy landings, the Battle of the Bulge or Operation Market-Garden have, but it still stands worthy of the "Great Battles" of this series' title.

There are so many developments to celebrate, beginning with the maps - not just one this time but four.  Each covers one of the major focal engagements of this epic action.  Maleme airfield, Heraklion Bay, Rethymno airfield and Prison Valley (whose map can be seen below).  

Each individual battle can be played in a couple of hours with plenty of replay value, as the game provides cards giving 4 alternative set-ups that give the German player a varying number of units.  Not only is this great for re-playability, but also for play balance.  Add to that you can combine all four maps and scenarios into a much more sizable complete game of the initial three days of the Crete campaign.

The four scenario cards for the Battle for Maleme Airfield 

Accordingly, this is one reason why I think it is such a good game for varying levels of player.  It's perfect for a more experienced player to use as an introduction for a newer player and yet should equally satisfy two players familiar with wargaming conventions and has the potential for team play as well.   

However, as an introduction to board wargames for the novice by themselves it may not be the best choice.  This is because, though the rules are brief, they introduce a system that contains a significantly high level of originality and so need careful reading to guarantee a sound grasp. Much of what I wish to say here can be found in my earlier review that can be accessed via this link.  For those who don’t want to bother with the link, I've appended at the end of this review a substantial extract that covers the major concepts of the system.

This is a very accessible system and swift playing.  My only criticism would be the Close Combat rules, which seem to stand in contrast to the ease of basic Fire.  This is high lighted by the fact that virtually all the Examples of Play section at the end of the Rules is taken up with how to resolve Close Combat.  This procedure starts with both players drawing a card from the draw deck and placing it face down for each unit that they have in the Close Combat. Then they either draw a second card or choose one from their current hand of cards to be placed face up.  If only one player has Combined Arms, they can draw another card or choose one from their hand and the player who has initiated the Close Combat can add an extra card for each hex that they entered the combat from.  All cards are then turned face up and totals determined.  Highest number wins the combat, while ties go to the Initiative player.  There is even the possibility of the defender making a Counterattack  which involves further card draw.

Just as the game provides so much more than its predecessors in maps, so too does it need far more counters.  These counters are very similar to the previous games, but once again there is that small but steady improvement in quality and most important is that each battle has its own set of counters with only one battle needing a single group of reinforcements to be drawn from another of the battles.  This has made the organisation and storage very easy.  For each battle I have a labelled, medium sized zip-lock bag for the Allied units with a smaller bag inside containing the German units. 

The play aids include a comprehensive terrain chart, an Allied set up card for each battle and a full display of German air and artillery assets for the linked four map battle.

German air and artillery assets display

All in all this is very good value for money, with a wide variety of situations each offering four different levels of difficulty and encompassing a significant campaign which many, like me, will relish the opportunity to play out over all four maps.

A final glimpse of the Allied set up for just one of the four battles

{Extract from Black Cavalry review}

 First of all the rules introduce a system containing a number of very interesting concepts.  The first and perhaps most important is the use of a deck of ordinary playing cards to regulate and introduce a mixture of control and randomness into the game.  This is an element not unfamiliar from some miniatures rules and systems.  [An excellent instance being To The Strongest - a superb set for conducting Ancient warfare!] However, I haven't previously encountered this in board wargaming.  Here all court cards count as 1 pt, while all other cards have their face value.

From the outset, these cards govern everything, including who will have the Initiative and play the turn.  This latter rule stands out for me as a leading innovation and one I have certainly never met with before.  There are four Initiative markers, one for each of the four suits in a pack of cards: Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades.  On one side of the marker is a flag to denote the German player, on the other a flag for the Allied player.

A pre-game card draw will determine which suits will determine each side's potential starting Initiative.  From then on, each Turn begins with a card being drawn, the suit determines the Initiative player and the Initiative marker for that suit is turned over to the opponent's side.  Thus a rhythm is established that overall evens out, but can throw up surprises and causes each player to focus very carefully on what he/she needs to do when they have got the Initiative.

What is even more novel is that only the player with the Initiative gets to directly activate their units with a choice of actions from Movement/Improving a Position/Fire and Rally.  However, and this is the third original idea, the non-Initiative player's units have a limited reaction ability.  Each unit can either move away one hex when an enemy unit comes adjacent or, at the point when an enemy comes into range and line of sight, can"roll" [i.e. draw a card] to see how many reaction pts the unit gets.  This will allow the unit from 1 to 3 Defensive Fire opportunities. 

This sets up a highly interactive system that benefits defenders well dug-in on good defensive terrain, especially when the Initiative player has to cross open ground.  It also creates a fairly fast flowing pace to each turn, with the opportunity for reaction, but without an overcomplex set of rules and conditions. .

What I like even more about the use of cards instead of dice is that each player starts a Scenario with a a limited hand of cards, with rare Random Event opportunities to refill or exchange some of those cards. In a variety of cases, a player will have the opportunity to play a card rather than randomly draw one.  

Nowhere can this be more crucial than when you have the Initiative, as your first decision is always how many formations you are going to activate.  To activate a single formation is free  and guaranteed.  To activate more than one formation, then each formation costs 2pts and each support weapon costs 1 pt unless it is stacked with a unit from its formation, an Artillery strike costs 2 pts and an Air strike similarly costs 2 pts.  You must first announce what you are attempting to activate.  Obviously then you can use one of your precious cards in your hand to guarantee success, but if you choose to risk a random card draw and don't pull a card that will pay all your costs, then you forfeit all activation!  

Lots of tense moments here, especially if you have a lot of nice court cards in your hand which count as 1 pt - and remember you can only ever play one card.  So, perhaps you'll be saving those high point cards for activation purposes in crucial turns, but they're equally useful in Fire and Close Combat.  

Fire is very straightforward with each unit firing separately.  It involves simply the play or draw of a single card plus double the unit's firepower compared with the defending unit's morale added to its terrain cover.  If the Attacker scores higher, the Defending unit is disorganised and, if twice the Defender's score, then the unit takes a step loss as well.  Gun/Armour factors add a few more twists too, though the main problem here lies in the minute size of the print on the counters!

Close Combat involves a more complex combination of cards, drawn randomly/played from hand, both face down and face up.  This takes a little thoughtful reading, but help is at hand as a substantial amount of the two pages of examples is devoted to a very clear sequence illustrating these particular rules.